7th - 9th July 2017

Sunday, 9th July: A very sunny and warm day from the start, with just a light onshore breeze......

Selsey Bill: (0630-0800hrs) (SH/IP/AH)
Fulmar - 1E
Gannet - 25E, 7W
Common Scoter - 12E, 25W
Little Gull - 1W
Mediterranean Gull - 1E, 2W, 1os
Common Tern - 10os
Sandwich Tern - 4os
Swift - 2os
House Martin - 6p

Sandwich Tern (above) & Mediterranean Gull at the Bill (AH)

Northcommon Farm:  A Little Owl was out hunting this morning at 5.15am (SR)

Little Owl at Northcommon Farm (SR)

Ferry Pool: There were still two Greenshanks present on the pool this morning, along with a Common Sandpiper, three Little Ringed Plovers, an adult and two juvenile  Avocets, 37 Black-tailed Godwits, 22 Redshank, seven Lapwing, the Shelduck family and a Buzzard. (AH)

Greenshanks (above), Little Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit & colour-ringed Avocet on the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: An Egyptian Goose was in the harbour this morning, along with three Yellow-legged Gulls, and a Red Kite drifted over the western end of the wall.
The two summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank were still on the Breech Pool, along with c20 Black-tailed Godwits c60 Redshank and c50 Lapwings, and two Common Sandpipers were along White's Creek. (AB) Later on, a Peregrine flew over the Breech Pool causing the two Spotted Redshanks to hurriedly relocate to the back channel along with a Grey Heron & a Little Egret and there were five Whimbrel out on the mud. (SHo/BI)

Church Norton: The three Eider were offshore again this morning, and there were plenty of Little, Common and Sandwich Terns, plus a few Mediterranean Gulls in the harbour and offshore, though the only waders seen were a dozen Curlew and a couple of Redshank.
A Peregrine, a couple of Buzzards and a Kestrel were seen, but passerines were restricted to a few Swallows, a couple of Skylarks and a handful of Linnets along the beach, and brief glimpses of Whitethroat, Reed and Sedge Warbler. (AH/IP/S&SaH)

juvenile Sandwich Tern (above), Whitethroat & Black-tailed Skimmer at Church Norton (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: There were quite a few Swifts, House Martins and Swallows overhead and a few Linnets along the hedges. (AH/IP/S&SaH)

Linnet (above) & House Martin & Swallow at Park Farm (AH)

Medmerry, Easton Lane to the Stilt Pool: Along with the Avocet families, there were up to five Common Sandpipers present this morning along with five Dunlin, two Redshanks, a Ringed Plover and at least ten Little Ringed Plovers. There were also c.100 Swallows and a few Sand Martins feeding over the pools, two Sedge Warblers around the reeds and two Reed Buntings nearby. In the ditches near to Easton Lane there was still some Reed Warbler song and there were Skylarks & Linnets all along the banking. A Brown Argus was near the first sluice and there were plenty of Skippers, Meadow Browns and Common Blues present. (BI)

Common Sandpiper & Common Blue at Medmerry (BI)

Saturday, 8th July: After a grey start, another very warm and muggy day, with the light southerly breezing at least offering a little respite on the coast.......

Ferry Pool: There were still two Greenshanks in very different plumages on the pool this morning, along with a Common Sandpiper, a Dunlin, nine Redshanks, 15 Black-tailed Godwits, four Teal and the Shelduck family, and a Little Ringed Plover flew off from smewhere at the back.
There were up to ten Blackcaps around the Tramway circuit, including at least five singing, plus a couple of Chiffchaffs, Reed Warblers and Whitethroats, and eight Sand Martins flew over. (AH/SH)

Greenshanks (above), Common Sandpiper, Teal, Blackcap & Whitethroat around the Ferry (AH)

Good to see that the Visitor Centre are still encouraging sales of the book! (AH)

Long Pool: There were a duck Gadwall with a single well-grown juvenile, and another with eight smaller young on the pool this morning, plus another three flew over, and a Kingfisher dropped in for a matter of seconds. There was plenty of mostly unseen Reed and Sedge Warbler activity, though several Reed Buntings and Linnets were more obvious, whilst there were two Common Sandpipers and c30 Redshanks in Ferry Channel. (AH)

Kingfisher (above), Gadwall, Linnet, Reed Bunting & Common Sandpiper around the Long Pool (AH)

Medmerry: Stilt Pool - On the Stilt Pool this morning there were still four Common Sandpipers, two Little Ringed Plovers, a single Ringed plover, four Oystercatchers, a Common Tern and the last handful of well-grown Avocet chicks. (SH)

North Wall area: There were five very young Moorhen chicks by the old sluice gates that were being hungrily eyed by a Grey Heron, whilst along White's Creek were six Black-tailed Godwits, a Common Sandpiper, three Little Egrets, four Mute Swans and 26 bathing Black-headed Gulls. On the Breech Pool were 64 Black-tailed Godwits, 12 Lapwing, two Common Redshank, eight Teal, two Cormorants and a Common Tern. 

At Honer reservoir there were two Tufted Ducks, a Common Sandpiper and three Yellowhammers, whilst along Honer Lane there was a small feeding party of Chiffchaffs and Whitethroats. Also, there was a steady procession of Little Egrets in and out of Owl Copse. (JDW)

Common Tern (above), Yellowhammer, Grey Heron & Moorhen chicks around North Wall (JDW)

Later on there were two Spotted Redshanks lurking at the back of the channel on the Breach Pool, a few Reed Warblers in the reeds and a few Linnets and Reed Buntings in the bushes and at least one Whimbrel with c30 Curlew and Lapwing out in the harbour. (PB/AH)

Spotted Redshanks, Redshanks, Cormorants and Mallards (above) & Black-tailed Godwits and Lapwings from North Wall (AH)

Friday, 7th July: A very pleasant morning, with a light north-westerly breeze keeping it from getting too hot in the almost unbroken sunshine.......

Ferry Pool: There were two Greenshanks on the pool this morning, along with three Little Ringed Plovers (two adults and a juvenile), a Common Sandpiper, five Redshank, four Teal, eight Lapwing and the Shelduck family. (AH)

Greenshanks (above), Common Sandpiper & Little Ringed Plovers on the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: A very smart summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank was on the Breach Pool tis morning, along with c85 Black-tailed Godwits, c30 Redshank , a dozen Lapwing and four Teal, though there was just a bit of Reed and Sedge Warbler song, and few other passerines about beyond a couple of Linnets and a Reed Bunting.

There were 20+ Swallows, including many juveniles, around the sluice gates, and up to ten Sand Martins were with them at times, and a couple of Swifts went over.

There wasn't too much in White's Creek beyond a Common Sandpiper and a Whimbrel, whilst out in the harbour there were two or three more of the latter, along with a dozen Curlews, a group of nine Black-tailed Godwits, a Yellow-legged Gull, a large family of Shelducks,  a Common Tern and c20 Mediterranean Gulls. Near the stables two Green Woodpeckers were busily feeding on ants. (AH/BI/PC)

Spotted Redshank (above), Black-tailed Godwits, Shelduck family, Whimbrel and Black-headed Gulls, Sand Martins & Swallows around the North Wall (AH)

Green Woodpeckers at the North Wall stables (BI)

Medmerry, Easton Lane to the Stilt Pool: Four Common Sandpipers were on the Stilt Pool this morning along with a Green Sandpiper, two summer-plumaged Dunlin, at least 10 Little Ringed Plovers and two Ringed Plovers. A few Sand Martins & Swallows were hawking and dip-feeding over the water and there were the usual Meadow Pipits, Skylarks & Linnets along the fenceline.

 The banks and paths were generally pretty quiet for birdlife bar the Skylarks and occasional Yellowhammer but there were plenty of butterflies on the wing including Essex Skippers and second brood Common Blues as well as a few Emperor dragonflies buzzing about. (BI)

Common Sandpiper (above) & Essex Skipper at Medmerry (BI)

Fishbourne Creek: This afternoon a Spotted Redshank in summer plumage was present although distant along with three Whimbrel, 24 Little Egrets and at least 40 Mediterranean Gulls. No sign of any Yellow-legged Gulls though! (JPC)

Whimbrel (above), and optimistic begging juvenile Black-headed Gull  with Curlew at Fishbourne Creek (JPC)

Mediterranean Gulls at Fishbourne Creek (JPC)

Church Norton: There were two Eider offshore this evening, and plenty of Little, Common and Sandwich Tern activity, including several almost-fledged young Little Terns visible on the island. (AH)

Little Tern (above), Sandwich Tern & Eider at Church Norton (AH)